Who says cats are aloof and self-absorbed? I'm going to start training my cat today!
posted by thataway_guy on Jan 3, 2006 - 23 comments

Three Years On A sobering analysis by Juan Cole of the strategic motivation behind 9/11.
posted by rdone on Sep 11, 2004 - 17 comments

Kerry Calls on Rice to Testify "John Kerry said Saturday the White House is committing character assassination with its treatment of former counterterror chief Richard Clarke to avoid responding to questions about national security. Kerry also said Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, should testify in public before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. "If Condoleezza Rice can find time to do '60 Minutes' on television before the American people, she ought to find 60 minutes to speak to the commission under oath," Kerry told reporters. "We're talking about the security of our country."...
posted by Postroad on Mar 28, 2004 - 26 comments

Graham Alleges a 9/11 'Coverup' Long a favorite issue of alternative (and tinfoil-hat-oriented) media, now this is getting picked up by a prominent Democrat. It would appear that Graham is the only moderate Democratic candidate to even approach topics that reflect negatively on the Bush administration. Certainly, when even the US military speculates that yesterday's attacks in Saudi Arabia were started by Al Qeada, and people in Chicago and Seattle are reminded of the reality of ongoing threats, it is reasonable to ask if the "War on Terror" is indeed being won. Is Graham someone with the power and place in the spotlight to make that a serious issue for voters?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly on May 13, 2003 - 11 comments

Judge, citing al-Qaida-Iraq link, awards $104 million to Sept. 11 families A judge ruled yesterday that lack of evidence should be no barrier to suing people who cannot be found. "The judge wrote that lawyers relied heavily on 'classically hearsay' evidence, including reports that a Sept. 11 hijacker met an Iraqi consul to Prague, Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks to the United Nations about connections between Iraq and terrorism, and defectors' descriptions of the use of an Iraq camp to train terrorists." --This would hardly be the first documented example of a court being overtly political, but the judge himself has no problem commenting on how shoddy the case was. "The judge noted that the experts provided few actual facts that Iraq provided support to the terrorists." --Apparently, the judge had just been waiting for Saddam to cease to be a diplomatically immune head of state before ruling against him. Is the low standard of evidence needed for civil rulings allowing the courts to begin establishing something that the military and intelligence can't? [more inside]
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly on May 8, 2003 - 33 comments

The Government is acting quickly. Quickly, to stem the deluge of Mexican terrorists.
posted by The Jesse Helms on Apr 29, 2003 - 16 comments

"I did not escape from you but I did what I was supposed to do and you should be very proud of me." The love life of 9/11 hijacker Ziad Jarrah.
posted by shoos on Jan 27, 2003 - 10 comments

Bush Doubted on 9/11 Panel Angry lawmakers accused the White House yesterday of secretly trying to derail creation of an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while professing to support the idea. The White House responded by renewing its pledge of support for the proposal and suggesting an agreement was near.
posted by tranceformer on Oct 15, 2002 - 38 comments

I guess the media does have some good qualities after all. Yesterday was 9/11. Much of the media spend the day remembering what took place a year ago. A local pop radio station here in Pittsburgh B94 did something a little different. Yes they did the remembering but they also did something that went along the lines of "going about our business". They organized a little something called Operation Jumpstart Pittsburgh. They collected faxed and emailed resumes and hooked people up with companies that were hiring on the spot. It's nice to see the media doing something constructive for a change. I just wonder if anyone else might have some information about things that media outlets in other cities might have done like this.
posted by whirlwind29 on Sep 12, 2002 - 5 comments

N.Y. Lottery Draws 9-1-1 on 9/11 This is a pretty strange coincidence. Some people find coincidences everywhere. But, others say the world would be more surprising if coincidences didn't occur. Still, this is pretty odd. What coincidences have you experienced? Do you see meaning in them?
posted by popvulture on Sep 11, 2002 - 51 comments

From Richard Wilbur: "Dear Bill, The only thing I can say right now is this. There is no excuse for the cold inhumanity of 11 September, and there is no excuse for those Americans, whether of the left or the religious right, who say that we had it coming to us. Dick"
posted by semmi on Sep 9, 2002 - 23 comments

How Al Qaeda Slipped Away "American officials concede that there was a mass escape from Tora Bora—as well as a broader exodus by various routes into Pakistan and Iran—but insist that Al Qaeda now is crippled and too busy running to do much damage. “Perhaps we could have got them wholesale,” says one senior Defense official. “Now we’re doing it retail. In the end, it doesn’t make much difference. We’re getting them.”" We might want to take care of this before we "invade" Iraq.
posted by owillis on Aug 14, 2002 - 14 comments

For the Ground Zero memorabilia collector who has everything... 9/11 wine charms! What's the tackiest piece of 9/11 memorabilia you've seen?
posted by illusionaire on Aug 12, 2002 - 61 comments

Government plans to use Flight 93 cockpit tapes in Moussaoui trial "Additional recordings would be played from the cockpit of an executive jet that tracked Flight 93 on Sept. 11" "An official for NetJets, a company that sells shares in private business aircraft, confirmed that the plane tracking Flight 93 belonged to the company. The official, who asked not to be identified by name, said the company was asked not to comment on the Sept. 11 flight but would not say who made the request." Finally someone admits that there was a plane up there when Flight 93 crashed. But who was it and why?
posted by bas67 on Aug 10, 2002 - 15 comments

chilling...
posted by BentPenguin on Jun 10, 2002 - 42 comments

More pedestrians died in traffic accidents in the US in the year 2000 than all of the people who died in the terrorist attacks on 9/11. 10 times the number of people killed in 9/11 attacks died due to motor vehicle attacks that same year. And yet some say the US government is on a course that will take away many of our civil rights in order to protect us from the boogie-monster terrorists. OF COURSE, the terrorist attacks were a horrible nightmare, and of course we want our police forces to prevent even worse attacks in the future, but before we start thinking about creating a Brave New Police State, maybe now is a good time to have a little perspective.
posted by crunchland on Jun 10, 2002 - 66 comments

MI6 warned US of Al-Qaeda attacks MI6 warned the American intelligence services about a plot to hijack aircraft and crash them into buildings two years before the September 11 attacks.... I do not subsribe but this is summary of article and may prove very "annoying" to the agencies and people involved. The Sunday Times is too reputable to be readily dismissed as off the wall.
posted by Postroad on Jun 9, 2002 - 38 comments

Terror Suspect Puts Court to the Test In a virulent, 50-minute speech in open court, Moussaoui -- the man government prosecutors say was meant to be the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11 -- fired his court-appointed defense team, accusing them of working with the U.S. government to secure his execution. He also informed U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema that he plans to mount his own defense. Funny.
posted by Niahmas on May 2, 2002 - 6 comments

The "Sum Of All Fears" trailer recently went online, and is already causing some heated discussion over major changes from the book. In the wake of 9/11, it seems that terrorists in the film have been changed from Muslim to Neo-Nazi (who then go on to detonate a bomb within the United States). Hollywood knee-jerk reaction or a good call given the timing of things? Discuss...
posted by almostcool on Mar 28, 2002 - 28 comments

Letters Exchanged between KENZABURO OE and EDWARD W. SAID . Asahi Shimbum prints an interesting dialog between writers Oe and Said on the topics of cultural imperialism and the far-reaching impacts of September 11 and America's reaction.
posted by gen on Mar 11, 2002 - 14 comments

Survivors Healed, but Not Whole "But hearing the story of how Patty crawled out of that room, dutifully dragging her behemoth purse (it weighed a ton, it seemed, with enough odds and ends to supply an army), and this as her colleagues were stripping off their clothes and lapping up water off the floor in a desperate struggle to escape the terrible heat and stay alive -- that was funny. A half-year after the attack, the reconstruction of the Pentagon is racing along, with crews repairing the broken facade and ready to start roof work today, the six-month anniversary. Harder to mend are the souls of those who were there Sept. 11."
posted by owillis on Mar 11, 2002 - 2 comments

Report from Ground Zero Brenda Berkman, highest-ranking female FDNY firefighter (25 women, 11,475 men): “[O]ne good thing that has come out of it is that I didn’t have to die to find out how many people care about me. It has really been overwhelming, the love and concern that has been directed to me from women and men from all over the country.” No female firefighters died in the bombing: “We have fathers and sons on that list, brothers on that list.... But no women firefighters, which was an absolute miracle because a huge percentage of us are in the companies that were hit the hardest.”
posted by joeclark on Mar 11, 2002 - 2 comments

The worst banner design ever? I've seen some tasteless advertising in my day, but this simple animation leaves me speechless. Is there any depth to which advertisers will go to hawk their services?
posted by mathowie on Jan 21, 2002 - 56 comments

God's role on 9-11 from the article "As the various interpreters of God's will appear and crash airliners into buildings, or on the contrary assert that God frowns on people crashing airlines into buildings, or that God will help our blessed nation in its quest for Osama, or that God will help Osama to escape, one might ask again an epochal question: huh?"
posted by onegoodmove on Jan 5, 2002 - 46 comments

S-11 Redux: (Channel) Surfing the Apocalypse So, in the face of our media's shameless propaganda campaign, we have taken it upon ourselves to intuit what the intentions and goals of this war truly are. In what is surely a departure from our traditional NewsVideo format, GNN presents S-11 Redux: (Channel) Surfing the Apocalypse. Culled from over 20 hours of television footage recorded over a one month period and across 13 networks, S-11 Redux is a sound-bite blitzkrieg that challenges the messages we have been fed from our mainstream media and the government it serves. Be warned - this video moves quickly and will require at least two viewings to digest its full impact. You may never be able to look at the coverage of S-11 and its post-impact coverage the same way, ever again
posted by Niahmas on Dec 24, 2001 - 31 comments

Here's what American Muslims think. What do you think? They come off modestly better than they did in a poll conducted in England a month back. But then, no embarrassing questions were asked this time.
posted by Real9 on Dec 22, 2001 - 6 comments

What if London got hit, not us? Just wondering what would be different if London was the primary target.
posted by sadie01221975 on Dec 16, 2001 - 19 comments

Where are the Women? The western media has seen an uncharacteristic deficiency of women's voices in the wake of September's events. Can this be attributed to a "war time" atmosphere? It's certainly not due to a lack of women whose lives have been effected.
posted by Fenriss on Dec 14, 2001 - 17 comments

McCarthyism Watch: "The fact that they asked for anything but flag stamps did raise a question for the clerk." At which point do the anecdotes about irrational patriotism and paranoia add up to a genuine cultural shift? I mean, stamps?
posted by muckster on Dec 12, 2001 - 53 comments

A story that seems to be good news no matter what side of the 'war' you're on. The dragnet around Bin Laden is reported to be closing quickly, and currently stands, says the Sunday Times, at about 30 squares mile. So, what happens next? (via Plastic.com)
posted by Hildago on Nov 18, 2001 - 13 comments

Charlie Daniels's racist 9.11-related song banned Country Music Television refused to allow ever-increasingly reactionary redneck musician Charlie Daniels to sing a new song, "It's a Flag, Not a Rag," at Nashville benefit for victims of the Sept. 11 terror. The conclusion to the title line is, " . . . and we don't wear it on our heads." Daniels, however, says the effect has been to increase sales at his web site. Can he be officially lumped in with Klansmen and skinheads now, and only invited to severely marginal, sub-Jerry Springer talk shows? Please?
posted by raysmj on Nov 4, 2001 - 58 comments

David Greg Harth is not afraid. As part of his ongoing art project in which this New York artist stamps US currency with phrases, he's releasing 'I am not afraid' and 'I am not terrorized'. He needs help circulating the bills.
posted by prolific on Nov 4, 2001 - 23 comments

Sweeps! A televised seance to communicate with those lost on Sept. 11! [Drudge Report now reports that it's nixed b/c of a "public outcry." You don't say....]
posted by adrober on Oct 25, 2001 - 7 comments

Boeing's Memo to bin Laden Here's a little PowerPoint presentation making its way around the defense industry. A memo (supposedly) from Boeing's CEO, to Osama bin Laden discussing bin Laden's interest in Boeing's 757 and 767 commercial airliners and Boeing's desire to do a demonstration of some of their non-commercial products for Mr. bin Laden. It's summed up pretty nicely, Don't bother making an appointment for the demo, we'll just drop in.
posted by billman on Oct 18, 2001 - 13 comments

Is The Media's "Whining" About Access Justified? A journalist criticizes his colleagues: "The disconnect between the U.S. media and the public they purport to serve has turned into a virtual chasm in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." What are/should be the limits on the ability of the press to obtain unfettered information in sensitive times?
posted by pardonyou? on Oct 17, 2001 - 10 comments

"Tears don't flow the same in space." Frank Culbertson provides the most unusual eye-witness account of the attack I've heard of. He's the only American on the International Space Station right now, and saw the aftermath of both attacks from orbit.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Oct 11, 2001 - 7 comments

The paranoia continues....... Any other local, non-national scare stories?
posted by Espoo2 on Oct 9, 2001 - 12 comments

WTC Widow May be deported A British widow who was married to a victim of the terrorist attack may be deported. Their children will be allowed to stay.
posted by goneill on Oct 9, 2001 - 62 comments

Here's your box of dirt. The families of the more than 5,000 victims of the World Trade Center attack will each receive a wooden urn with dirt from the mass graveyard. I know, I know... another story involving the WTC bombings. But this one is struck me as odd.
posted by bradth27 on Oct 3, 2001 - 13 comments

Help say NO to terrorism ... then say yes to an in-box full of crap. Some spam sent me here. Nowadays, 'evil' seems like too strong a word for this sort of thing, but it's not far off the mark.
posted by davidfg on Oct 3, 2001 - 5 comments

US to give detailed evidence of Bin Laden's Involvement. Apparently the US government does have enough evidence to hang Osama, but they're not telling just anyone ... you have to be part of NATO or the Pakistan government to get in on the info.
posted by walrus on Oct 3, 2001 - 22 comments

Is free speech on shakier grounds after the Tragedy? Or is the Texas City Sun just a backwaters, hick rag for Godfearing obsolescents?
posted by swift on Oct 2, 2001 - 7 comments

Another interview with bin Laden, with a twist, just to show everyone what a pacifist I really am. Slightly slow-loading, completely interactive. Fun and games for a Tuesday night.
posted by mirla on Sep 25, 2001 - 4 comments

Daily comic strips have started to react to the attacks. The only two I noticed in today's paper were Fox Trot and The Boondocks. Their tones are, predictably, somber. The one comic I'd expect to have something to say, Doonesbury, is still stuck on an older storyline. Have other strips referenced September 11?
posted by sandor on Sep 24, 2001 - 26 comments

An e-mail exchange with a World Trade Center architect was published in my local alternative weekly. The architect talks about the buildings' construction and gives some interesting info regarding the staircases.
posted by jenwells on Sep 21, 2001 - 2 comments

God bless Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, back for their first show after the attack. It's not completely new, but God knows I needed to see it. New York may be OK after all. (Comedy Central will repeat the show several times before Monday, so don't despair if you thought it would be a rerun and missed it.)
posted by mdeatherage on Sep 20, 2001 - 24 comments

Racist America voices its concerns in a new poll: The Gallup Poll not only found that 58 percent of Americans backed more intensive security checks for Arab plane passengers and 49 percent supported special IDs, but also that 35 percent said they trusted Arabs living here less and 32 percent think Arabs living here should be put under special surveillance as were Japanese-Americans following Pearl Harbor.
posted by skallas on Sep 19, 2001 - 31 comments

Were more planes ready to be taken over? This doesn't appear to have been posted yet, so here it is. "The [Chicago] Tribune reported that one source said the FBI was "very interested" in passengers whose names appeared on the manifests of several other flights that were already in the air when the first attacks occurred. None of the passengers in which investigators have expressed interest reappeared when flights resumed late last week, the Tribune reported."
posted by krisjohn on Sep 18, 2001 - 6 comments

Libertyunites.com is a crisis relief site where you can donate directly to the charity of your choice, with no fees or costs...
posted by zerotype on Sep 18, 2001 - 0 comments

Erward Said article about the attack, in the Observer. Reposted on Znet: No cause, no God, no abstract idea can justify the mass slaughter of innocents, most particularly when only a small group of people are in charge of such actions and feel themselves to represent the cause without having a real mandate to do so.
posted by talos on Sep 18, 2001 - 14 comments